LOS ANGELES – The Kings knew entering the season that navigating through the Pacific Division schedule was going to be tough for a rebuilding team.

Dallas and San Jose were Stanley Cup contenders and the Ducks the defending league champions.

But those teams haven’t caused the Kings trouble.

It’s Phoenix, the other team in the division, that has Kings coach Marc Crawford muttering to himself.

The Coyotes were continuing their dominance of the Kings with a 4-0 lead through two periods Monday at Staples Center.

After Crawford and Kings players talked Sunday of “solving the hold” Phoenix has on them and “owing some” to the Coyotes, it took Phoenix just over five minutes to make the game look all too familiar.

Phoenix needed only 14 seconds of a first-period power play for defenseman Ed Jovanovski to score.

Just over a minute later, Radim Vrbata stepped in front of a Dustin Brown pass at center ice and beat Jason LaBarbera for a 2-0 lead 5:06 just into the game.

Lauri Tukonen made his season debut at forward for the Kings after being called up from minor-league affiliate Manchester of the American Hockey League on Sunday.

Tukonen wore No. 34 and played on a line alongside Michal Handzus and Raitis Ivanans. He spent four games with the Kings last season but has yet to record a point.

Tukonen replaced Brian Boyle, who was sent back to Manchester after scoring four goals in eight games with the Kings. The club seems to be taking a quick look at various prospects before the Feb. 26 trade deadline.

PROSPECT EXCHANGE

PROUD PAPA

No King was happier to return from the road trip than Dustin Brown, who missed two games to be with wife Nicole for the birth of their first child.

“It seemed like I was away forever, even though it was only four or five days,” said Brown, 23. “There’s moments that seem no different and moments where it’s hard to believe I’m a dad.”

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